Roll Call...

What is that?

"CD101's Independent Playground airs every Sunday 10pm-12m and every Thursday 11pm-1am on 101.1FM. DJs Tom and Rudy play a mixture of independent label, unsigned and local bands. They often feature interviews and guests along with local show info and recommendations. Even when there's a hockey game on air the Independent Playground still can be heard via CD 101's online stream.

If that ain't enough, Cringe.com hosts a chat every Sunday 10pm-12m in conjunction."

courtesy of http://www.cringe.com

i do when i'm in my car and i remember.

I regret to say that I really should listen more often. I try to listen when I remember but that's not very often.

Tom and Rudy are great guys and have allowed me to sit in a guest on a few occasions to plug Swizzle-Stick.com.

-Chip

I'm a pretty faithful Sunday night listener and Cringe.com chat participant. It makes me feel like I'm out rockin... (two kids upstairs in bed) and of course I love to support LOCAL music.

Will they play Townsmen tonight on CD101????????????

New songs from their upcoming Summer 2003 release have been leaked exclusively to Rudy!

not me. i did, but they have horrible taste. a big glob of emo, and that's not even listenable anymore. they must have andyman chirping in their ears to only play bad independent music. sometimes it's good, but c'mon there's a whole world of indie music they often forget about. they do play some good stuff, but i'm sure it's to gain some indie points.

what they have is a good forum for local bands and a chance to change that god forsaken, piece of shit, radio station. do we really need to hear violent femmes anymore, request a playlist and you'll see they play r.e.m., janes addiction, barenaked ladies, cake, and all that other bilge at least twice a day. that's "stuff you don't hear everyday." I swear if you fell into a coma during 1994's lollapalooza and woke up tomorrow, you'd think you'd been out a couple days. get with the program.

CD101 is better than the Blitz, though.

At least CD101 doesn't run a "Guess the Puppies" contest.

I listen all the time. I hate about 95% of what they play and I really REALLY hate Rudy and whoever's DJ stylings. Still, I listen to it regularly cause they play shiznit I'd never hear otherwise. And they turned me onto Mars Volta, which was a good thing. I'm always looking to hear stuff I've not heard before and you can't do that any easier than turning on the radio. As for remembering to listen, I got no memory (thanks a lot Meigs County) so I downloaded me one of them there post it note programs with an alarm to remind me when radio and TV shows I want to see are on. Then I can sort thru the week at rockontv.com and set reminders sos if I'm in, I won't miss the few moments of good stuff they show on TV. Anyone seen 'Black Books' on Comedy Central in the middle of the night? Extremely good stuff.

As for CD101, man, show your homeboys some love. Do they play too much of the same songs by Green Day and Violent Femmes. Yes, I complain about that to them via email frequently. But COME ON, they're one of the few remaining big signal independently owned stations IN THE COUNTRY. Right here in lil ol Columbus. That means one whole hell of a lot. And they actually add local artists into their regular rotation. Regular rotation, I said. You think the Blitz would have ever HEARD OF Watershed if not for CD101? (I didn't ask if you care for the stylings of Watershed.) Not to mention their daily 9pm feature of 2-3 songs by local bands (I got that post-it-note alarmed, too). All radio sucks, by it's nature. It's designed for idiots with no mind of their own who have no music collection. If you want variety, listen to your CDs. But CD101 deserves much respect for what they do for Columbus and the Cols music scene, IMO. Besides, they (through their frequent listener program) are getting me into 5 different shows for FREE, in April alone. That figure doesn't count the Clippers home opener or the Crew game with Everclear or the 2 free movies, either. So, to make a short story long, they're locally owned, play local music, haven't sold their signal to a big conglomorate, give me free sh*t, and most importantly, even with the flaws and repetition in their playlist, don't bow to the rigid formatting all corporate stations worship.

You better recognize.

I wasn't trying to be anonymous when I posted the above rant. I didn't know you could post here without being signed in. And no, though I've worked in radio in Columbus for 12+ years, I don't work for CD101. That IS one reason why I know how bad corporate radio sucks, though. And why I respect what CD101 is doing so much.

I listen to it faithfully. I'm a huge dork about it - if I'm drawing or working while listening I'll even take little notes about what I like while I listen.

minimott

I don't listen that often so I made a point to listen for just a few minutes this past Sunday. Of the 5 songs that I heard, only one really stuck out ... something by Caustic Resin that I thought sounded like Black Sabbath. Even though I have the CD I had never listened to it. Hearing it on the Playground inspired me to give the CD a spin and it's pretty good. My only "problem," if you will, is that Tom and Rudy seem to equate "indie" rock with "noisy/punk" rock. There are a lot of artists out there that sound like mainstream artists but are on independent labels that I wish they'd play more of. I think I'd listen more if they played stuff that didn't hurt my ears.

well you do have a derek trucks avatar, so i suppose your opinion is not that important and why cd101 has the generic and blind backing it doesn't deserve. when i flip it on and hear bob marley in the middle of the afternoon, i know this station is in big fucking trouble. so they are independent and not corporate, so what, they act just like a coporate radio station. Honestly let's take another poll, is a band like Dada or Cracker or Verve Pipe even worthy of airplay this day in age. CD101 treats it like gold. Another sign of thier lazy, apathetic, and out of touch operations going on down there. Give Ron House or Eric Davidson a time slot. The only good programming is "Invisible Hits" on Sunday nights, they pack in a hour of stuff that should be played throughout the week.

Average DJ at CD101, 5 p.m.:

"Hmmm...should I play this great single "Harmonic Generator" by the Datsuns, this wonderful new Black Keys song, some Rapture?"

a few seconds go by, nothing in their heads, back on the air in 5.4.3.2.1.

"Hey everybody (mindless, humorless banter) this is "Superman" from R.E.M. on CD101 stuff you don't hear everyday."

Yeah right.

If you're so angry about the state of radio today, why don't you start up your own independent radio station and play the songs you believe should be played on the radio today?

hmmm....Mr. Duffy, how do you feel about starting up WDUN? Donewaiting...on the air!

Do you have a million $?

That's exactly my point. I don't have a million dollars (or the gumption) to start up my own radio station...so I don't complain about CD101. They're doing their job - putting music (and advertising) on the radio.

Alright, all.

Behave.

I'm glad to have CD101 in town, but the fact of the matter is due to their past track record, I don't listen very often. In the station's early days they boasted that they broke Billy Pilgrim. "Who?" you are asking yourself. Exactly! My biggest complaint is that they seem to be a few steps behind. As pointed out earlier, they play the same stuff that other stations play and/or play music from 10 years ago. They don't take too many risks.

I don't know if it's indicative of the entire radio industry, but something that drives me CRAZY that CD101 (and, for that matter, other stations in town) does is play a song from a band like Local H or the Posies that was popular six or seven years ago rather than playing something from a recently released CD. I remember maybe 4 or 5 years ago hearing "Suddenly Mary" by the Posies which at that point was already 4 or so years old. The Posies had just released a new CD but CD101 didn't play anything from that one. Same deal with Local H ... you'll continue to hear the "Just don't get it, keep it copasetic" song even though they've released 2 CDs and an EP since then.

God love Curt Schieber and his musical knowledge. I can imagine myself being just like him when I get older -- still totally into listening to music and going to shows. He's done a TON for the Columbus music community. But, quite frankly, I think that no matter how knowledgeable he is, he's a little too old for the gig ... I don't think he connects with the 20 - 30 year old crowd. And the polka music (or whatever it is) that plays during the beginning of "Invisible Hits" is ridiculous. If I was just flipping through the stations and heard that I'd think it's a station that my grandparents should be listening to.

What it comes down to is that Atomic Ned should be the program director and on-air talent. That way, nobody would have anything to bitch about because I'd play only good music.

....until you get to be 40 years old and no longer connect to the 20-25 year old audience....

All I listen to on CD101 is Independent Playground. They play local new releases ALL THE TIME. Sure they have particular bands/labels that they seem to favor- but that is what they like. The Means and Grafton have been played during every show for the last few weeks. Have you seen these bands? What kind of local releases are you looking for- you got something for them to play? Send it in..
Have you heard the local bands that play in the studio? I think its been awhile but the last show I heard in the studio was The Jive Turkeys. It was incredible. Have you seen this band? They play music that I go out to see.
I don't know about the politics and I don't listen to the radio in general- but Independent Playground represents a good part of the local scene. (or at least what I would consider my local scene)

I definetly get turned on to national bands on their show, and sometimes I hate the music and sometimes I love it- but I can tell you that almost every song they play is new to me (except local releases of course). They are hard rockers and they play what they like and its what we got and I love it.

I have only one complaint

EVERCLEAR. Old Everclear, New Everclear... I mean it really doesn't matter because their songs are literally almost all identical. I swear the dude only knows one rythm... and 3 cords. Listen to that station for an hour and I guarantee you'll hear Everclear. Seriously what is going on? Is he related to someone at the station or did he do a "big room" and now they are forever indebted to him? Or is it just the case of "well we need to add some new music ..........oh Everclear has a new record out lets check it out. SWEET it sounds like their last one which we played so.... ADD IT". Repeat this conversation year after year after year. Is this really happening? Could it be that simple?

oh wait I do have another complaint. There is no need to ever play any of the following songs. Nirvana (Smells like teen spirit, Come as you are), Pearl Jam (Alive, Jeremy and Evenflow), Beck (loser), REM (losing my religion), Everclear (santa monica or anything else... I just covered that sorry), Dave Mathews Band (crash into me) ... I don't know, there is probably at least a dozen more but you get the idea. These songs have been played to death. The only people who would want to hear them are freaks who can't afford to buy them at wal-mart and who's favorite hobby is CALLING RADIO STATIONS to request songs they already know. (*note these people do NOT represent your audience, dicks like me represent your audience and I would never call to make a request. if I want to hear a song that bad I'll put the freaking CD in and listen to it at home).

okay I'm done.

PS. Front Stage and Independent Playground are two of the best things this city has going for it. celebrate good times uh huh.

Everclear. That's just what I'm talking about. I know deep in their hearts theyare trying hard to help local music and play some different things (indie playground), but Everclear? C'mon Andyman, too lazy to get up and check the mailbox?

I was at a CMJ convention many years ago and I went to a seminar that was something like "How does my band get on MTV". At that time, Matt Pinfield was just a program director and not an on-air talent. During the Q&A period someone stood up and said, "You play the new Aerosmith video 8 times a day. Would it kill you to play it 7 times a day and then show something new, expose people to a band like Guided By Voices?"

Pinfield got very aggitated and said something like, "What do you know? You think kids want to hear Guided By Voices. The kid sitting next to you thinks kids want to hear Skinny Puppy. That guy behind you thinks that we should play more Cracker videos. What you all forget to remember is that the advertisers keep us on the air. If we play something by Guided By Voices, the advertiser is going to say 'Who is that? We want our commercials shown after the Bon Jovi video, a band that sells ten million records. We don't want to be associated with a band that sells 1000 records.' So, to answer your question, you WON'T be seeing Guided By Voices videos in regular rotation and you WILL see Aereosmith every hour."

I think the "independently owned" CD101 operates under the same thinking. I've heard a story from someone who questioned an employee of CD101 about why WOXY can play such good music and CD101 can't. The CD101 person said that WOXY doesn't have a high-tech studio, doesn't pay their DJs very well, has little overhead, etc. This CD101 person said that WOXY can afford to take those risks while CD101, in their new studio, can't.

It's all about the bling bling, just like everything else. Then again, would we all be bitching if CD101 DID play good music and those bands that we've all loved and wished great things for got to be as big as say Everclear? I'm sure we'd find something to complain about.

(NP: Children of Bodom -- thanks for the suggestion Faustoid. Can't say this is stuff that I regularly listen to but you're right, it's got an '80s metal vibe -- not '80s hair metal but '80s thrash/black metal)

you must have me confused with some other faustoid. never heard of children of bodom.

either way CD101 needs to shape up or ship out. Do you think the advertisers are really concerned. CD101 does take significant risks, but not the right kind of risks.